Govt softens stance as oilseed vessels released except two being inspected

ISLAMABAD: While few vessels of import oilseeds have reportedly been released so far after the months’ long confusion and debate over the oilseeds being Genetically Modified Organism (GMO), two vessels of Soybean are still stuck at port for being GMO.

Addressing a press conference here in Islamabad, Federal Minister of Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema claimed that the vessels are being cleared after laboratory reports about being non-GMO. “Two vessels are stuck at port for being GMO. However, the importers have challenged the test report and they are going to test from other relevant labs. In case the imported seeds proved to be GMO they would not be allowed to clear from port,” the minister said indicating that the government has softened its stance on the issue of GMO.

In reply to a query, the minister said that imported vessels of oilseeds (Soybean and canola) are now being imported after getting a certificate from the exporting country/exporters about the seeds being non-GMO. Though he did not confirm, the minister’s remarks also indicate that there is still no government facility to inspect the imported oilseeds being GMO or Non-GMO. The concerned authorities were relying on the certificate of the exporting country and assurance of the importers about the organism of the seeds.   

“As long as I am food minister I will not allow the GMO oilseeds to enter into Pakistan,” Cheema, however reiterated his stance on the issue claiming that the importers were now importing only Non-GMO oilseeds.

“The subject of GMO testing is the Ministry of Climate Change. As I have talked to Sheri Rehman, Minister of Climate Change, she is too serious about the issue. She has taken bold steps to stop the GMO seeds,” he claimed while replying to a query.

Earlier talking about the issue of wheat shortages, Cheema criticized provinces for not providing wheat in their respective jurisdictions and said that the blame game against the federal government over wheat and wheat flour shortage was only a politically motivated move.

“The federal government is responsible to provide wheat requirements of the armed forces, GB and the AJK – but for the provinces it is their responsibility after the 18th amendment and during the seasons the provincial cabinets finalize their assessments and procure wheat,” the minister said.

He added that this is the third consecutive year that the country was facing wheat crises, and culprits are identified.

He named the Punjab government for not releasing the required quantities from the stocks, which led to artificial shortages.

“The officials of the food department were involved in illegal selling of wheat in open markets through the flour mills, and smuggling to Afghanistan through KPK and Balochistan,” he added.

He added that this was not the state of affairs at the provincial end, and the price of wheat in the market was unrealistically high in the country.

“But nobody is asking one simple question – who has to check it? What do these magistrates, ACs, DCs do?,” Mr Cheema added, “why are they failing to manage their districts, especially the bordering districts.”

He added that smuggling and hoarding prone areas are the bordering districts and “what are the check-posts there doing? But the provinces were shifting the blame upon the federal government.”

He added that the report of wheat flour smuggling out of the country was an open secret, and it was the responsibility of Balochistan and KPK provinces to manage their respective areas.  

He expressed dismay that Pakistan has now turned out to be a wheat and cotton importing country, and this year around $2 bn have been spent on wheat imports.

“Earlier we had estimated that the wheat shortfall would be around 3 million tonnes this year, but the review committee asked provinces to provide their stock position and an order was placed for import of 2.6 million tonnes wheat,” Mr Cheema said.

He informed that out of this quantity 1.37 million tonnes has already been disbursed and 400,000 tonnes was being unloaded and the provinces are directly lifting it from the ports.

The remaining quantity will be received up to the end of February and fresh crop from Sindh and Punjab will be in the markets after that.

“We had 1.8 million tonnes strategic reserves from the last year’s crop – but this is unfair to blame the federal government over the shortages or any mismanagements in wheat reserves,” the minister said, “The whole mechanism including relevant manpower and check-posts to curb smuggling is under the provincial control, so they must take the responsibility too.”

He said that the situation has started to ease as the provinces were releasing more wheat from their stocks.

“We have wheat stocks and I am openly asking all provinces if they need more wheat why not they place the demand – but strangely all the provinces were holding their stocks for unknown reasons,” the federal minister added, “The provincial governments should understand and do something about agri-produce, we are even importing oil seeds worth $4.2 billion.”

He lashed out at the provinces for not doing enough to promote agricultural produce and they should identify new cultivation areas for oil seeds and wheat.